Fallen Angel [Bellamy Blake]

Chapter 9: Treks

2 YEARS AGO

The metal bed frame creaked with my every toss and turn.

"You are literally going to drive me insane," Selina groaned. She grabbed the pillow from underneath her head to cover her face, attempting to block out the excessive noise I was making.

I turned to face her, the movement was followed by another loud squeak. I winced and fiddled with my nails. "Sorry. I just... keep thinking about..."

The red-headed girl peered over at me from underneath her pillow. She let out a deep sigh before uncovering herself. She moved over to my bed and gestured for me to make room for her. I pressed my back against the wall and lifted the blanket for her to crawl underneath.

Selina Russ was my cellmate. She was the first person I met when I was thrown into lockup. Cellmates were common amongst adolescent prisoners that weren't in solitary confinement, it was a way for the Ark to keep us "socialized." Because what better way to get teenagers to bond than by cramming them in a small room with another fellow criminal?

I was lucky though. Selina was the sweetest person I had ever met and as an added bonus, she wasn't an actual murderer. She was upfront about her crime since the first day I met her. She was caught stealing medicine for her infant daughter. Aside from being a teen mother, she didn't have any other family on the Ark, and so she saw no other choice but to steal medicine.

Selina never got to give the medicine to her daughter that night.

Her story had broken my heart and fueled my resentment towards the Ark. The next time Wells came to visit me I went on a two-hour long rant, that involved me cursing everyone on the council to hell and demanding that some form of justice be served for Selina. To my surprise, Wells passed the message along to my father. Who came to visit me the following week. He told me that he was sorry for my friend but rules on the Ark were rules. And repeated the same mantra he always told me when we got into these types of arguments.

As Selina laid beside me I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday, tomorrow she would be reviewed by the council. But why was I so anxious when she wasn't?

"Breathe," she sang softly to me. Selina reached up to run her fingers through my hair.

I frowned. "I can't stop thinking...about... it."

Her green eyes flickered downward. "I know. I can't either."

"You seem so calm."

She smiled sheepishly. "Do I? I guess I've made peace with it—"

"Don't say that." I cut her off.

"There's nothing left for me out there, Kat. The truth is when Ariah died the last piece of me did too."